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Global Guardians
Membership Achilles, Arachne, Bungie, Guardsman, Gunmetal, Los Hermanos, Nordkapp Man, Tachyon, and Ultra-Man History and Origins In the wake of the Cuban missile crisis, the United Nations Security Council unanimously decided that the world had come far to close to global thermonuclear war, and that it was the duty of the United Nations to do something about it. The Security Council authorized the creation of two special enforcement bodies: Checkmate and the Global Guardians. Checkmate's purpose was to act as peacekeepers and enforcers of international law. The Guardians were there to put a stop to things that normal law enforcement couldn't handle. Goals Defend the Earth from all threats, internal and external. Prevent catastrophe and disaster when possible. Internal Relations On an individual basis, the Global Guardians get along pretty well with one another, though during off-hours the team does tend to split into a few distinct groups. Achilles, Gunmetal, and Guardsman, all being former military men with similar attitudes, tend to enjoy each other's company and will generally spend more time together in their off hours than with the others playing golf or fishing. Los Hermanos, Bungie, and Nordkapp Man, being less straight-laced and easy going than the others, and can often be seen doing the "tourist thing" in various cities around the world during their off hours. Arachne, Tachyon, and Ultra-Man tend to be a bit stand-offish regarding their teammates. It isn't that they are unfriendly or unwilling to spend time with the others; rather, each of the "loners" has a completely different personal perspective that separates them. Arachne is dedicated to the task given her by Athena, and thus feels uncomfortable when she's not working on it, even though she knows Athena would not begrudge her a personal life (Bungie is constantly trying to get Arachne to join her, Hermanos, and Nordkapp Man on one of their excursions, and is on the brink of actually succeeding.) Ultra-Man has the tastes and attitudes you might expect from a man born in 1914, and thus has little in common with his teammates. His downtime is generally spent helping farmers in the mid-west, or staying at home and watching old movies from the 30s and 40s on DVD. And Tachyon, being a Mangani gorilla, simply has trouble relating to her human companions. He's trying to fix that, though. Reputation The Global Guardians are respected by nearly every law enforcement body on the planet as an effective team of crime-fighters. There are occasionally hard feelings and resistance regarding the Guardians mandate to fight crime everywhere, regardless of jurisdiction, but in general full cooperation is given by the national and local governments. The general public views the Guardians as the most powerful and most effective hero team on the planet, and that opinion is hardly undeserved. Merchandising A large contributor to the popularity of the Guardians is their carefully marketed image. Posters, t-shirts, various toys and action figures, and even a very popular cartoon series (highly fictionalized and done in an anime style, with much more comic relief than the Guardians ever see in their real life) generate millions of dollars a year and help defray the operational cost of the team. Thirty percent of the gross intake from these items goes to an array of charities, a condition imposed on their UN sponsors by the team itself back in 1983, when the merchandising of the team began. Within minimum requirements, team members have complete approval over the marketing of their image, and are free to refuse those items they find in bad taste, or otherwise go against their own personal ethics and moral views. To date, the biggest-selling items are the Achilles action figure (the only item Achilles has ever authorized that wasn't a t-shirt; a mint-condition, still-in-the-box Achilles action figure once sold for $8200 on eBay) and the 1985 Stellarina calendar (made collectible because that was the year she retired from the Guardians). It should be noted that La Charisme's three pornographic movies (filmed when she was a near-destitute college student and long before she gained her powers and became a superhero), are not considered "Guardians merchandise" by legitimate dealers or collectors, regardless of how they are labelled and marketed. Category:Teams and Organizations Category:Superhero Teams